Zionist Conspiracy

Part of the Global Plot to Expose Moonbats, conspiracy nuts, and anti-Semites, especially the Jewish anti-Semitic variety.
The leftwing Neo-Nazi web magazine Counterpunch has described Plaut thus: "One of the most pernicious writers is Steven Plaut, a man who could be thought of as Israel's Daniel Pipes."

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Settlers Successfully Sue Maariv for Libel

1. This story is just so delicious that I cannot resist posting it. In fact it is so wonderful and encouraging that not a single Israeli newspaper, radio or TV show, other than the Righist Makor Rishon, had the courage to report it.

It seems that a Jewish settlement filed a libel suit against Maariv, Israel's second largest print daily, and won. Maariv had falsely reported in a news story that the settlement of Maale Rehav'am in the West Bank was sitting on land illegally expropriated from Palestinian Arabs. That turned out to be a lie. Residents of the settlement successful sued. The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court ordered Maariv to pay 13,000 NIS in damages to the settlers and issue a public apology. The whole settlement has 30 people living in it and it is one of those that Obama is demanding that Israel evacuate.

So let us hope this case serves as a grand legal precedent: Tell a lie about settlers and pay!

2. For years I have been claiming in postings, blog entries and articles that the ex-Chief Justice of Israel, Aharon Barak (he is not a relative of Ehud) is an anti-democratic anti-Israel leftist extremist moonbat. Barak was the leading proponent in Israel of the anti-democratic doctrine of "judicial activism," which should be called judicial tyranny, under which non-elected judges make up laws and dictate governmental policy about just about everything. Barak also insisted that anyone who happens to sit on the Israeli Supreme Court should issue rulings based on "enlightened opinion," which means whatever Aharon Barak personally thinks in any given week, and that those same sitting judges should perpetually select other judges by themselves to sit on the Supreme Court and other courts, regardless of what the Israeli voter wants.

When I would slap around Barak in my postings, many people objected that I was showing disrespect to Israel's Chief Justice, and was exaggerating his anti-democratic tendencies. Last week Barak had the kindness to step forward and prove that I was correct, and in fact showed I was underestimating his political biases and dislike for democracy.

Last week, Barak took off his muzzle, now that he is retired, and launched a malicious broadside against Israel, Zionism, and "settlers." The most outrageous thing he said was that the Jews were plotting to throw the Arabs into the sea. The truth of course is that the Arabs are trying to throw the Jews into the sea, but Orwellian inversions are the favorite tactic of leftist cranks. Barak also criticized Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria as an "occupation," and said the Israeli presence there leads to human rights offenses and racism elsewhere in Israel. Barak's presence on the Supreme Court produced anti-democratic restrictions to freedom of speech and to the trashing of any form of checks and balances on the court's "activism," and led to an explosion in anti-Jewish racism by Israeli Arabs and Jewish leftists.

No one, including a president of the United States of America, can presume to tell me, a Jew, that I cannot live in the area of my national homeland. That's one of the main reasons my wife and I chose in 1981 to move to Shiloh, a so-called settlement less than 30 miles north of Jerusalem.

After Shiloh was founded in 1978, then-President Carter demanded of Prime Minister Menachem Begin that the village of eight families be removed. Carter, from his first meeting with Begin, pressed him to "freeze" the activity of Jews rebuilding a presence in their historic home. As his former information aide, Shmuel Katz, related, Begin said: "You, Mr. President, have in the United States a number of places with names like Bethlehem, Shiloh and Hebron, and you haven't the right to tell prospective residents in those places that they are forbidden to live there. Just like you, I have no such right in my country. Every Jew is entitled to reside wherever he pleases."

We now fast-forward to President Obama, who declared on June 15 in remarks at a news conference with Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, that Jewish communities beyond the Green Line "in past agreements have been categorized as illegal."

I believe the president has been misled. There can be nothing illegal about a Jew living where Judaism was born. To suggest that residency be permitted or prohibited based on race, religion or ethnic background is dangerously close to employing racist terminology.

Suppose someone suggested that Palestinian villages and towns in pre-1967 Israel were to be called "settlements" and that, to achieve a true peace, Arabs should be removed from their homes. Of course, separation or transfer of Arabs is intolerable, but why is it quite acceptable to demand that Jews be ethnically cleansed from the area? Do not Jews belong in Judea and Samaria as much as Palestinians who stayed in the state of Israel?

Some have questioned why Jews should be allowed to resettle areas in which they didn't live in the years preceding the 1967 war, areas that were almost empty of Jews before 1948 as well. But why didn't Jews live in the area at that time? Quite simple: They had been the victims of a three-decades-long ethnic cleansing project that started in 1920, when an Arab attack wiped out a small Jewish farm at Tel Hai in Upper Galilee and was followed by attacks in Jerusalem and, in 1921, in Jaffa and Jerusalem.

In 1929, Hebron's centuries-old Jewish population was expelled as a result of an Arab pogrom that killed almost 70 Jews. Jews that year removed themselves from Gaza, Nablus and Jenin. The return of my family to Shiloh -- and of other Jews to more than 150 other communities over the Green Line since 1967 -- is not solely a throwback to claimed biblical rights. Nor is it solely to assert our right to return to areas that were Jewish-populated in the 20th century until Arab violence drove them away. We have returned under a clear fulfillment of international law. There can be no doubt as to the legality of the act of my residency in Shiloh.

I am a revenant -- one who has returned after a long absence to ancestral lands. The Supreme Council of the League of Nations adopted principles following the 1920 San Remo Conference aimed at bringing about the "reconstitution" of a Jewish National Home. Article 6 of those principles reads: "The administration of Palestine ... shall encourage ... close settlement by Jews on the land, including state lands and waste lands." That "land" was originally delineated to include all of what is today Jordan as well as all the territory west of the Jordan River.

In 1923, Britain created a new political entity, Transjordan, and suspended the right of Jews to live east of the Jordan River. But the region in which I now live was intended to be part of the Jewish National Home. Then, in a historical irony, a Saudi Arabian refugee, Abdallah, fleeing the Wahabis, was afforded the opportunity to establish an Arab kingdom where none had existed previously -- only Jews. As a result, in an area where prophets and priests fashioned the most humanist and moral religion and culture on Earth, Jews are now termed "illegals."

Many people insist that settlements are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention. But that convention does not apply to Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza district. Its second clause makes it clear that it deals with the occupation of "the territory of a high contracting party." Judea and Samaria and Gaza, which Israel gained control of in 1967, were not territories of a "high contracting party." Jewish historical rights that the mandate had recognized were not canceled, and no new sovereign ever took over in Judea and Samaria or in Gaza.

Obama has made his objections to Israeli settlements known. But other U.S. presidents have disagreed. President Reagan's administration issued a declaration that Israeli settlements were not illegal. Support for that position came from Judge Stephen M. Schwebel, former president of the International Court of Justice, who determined that Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria did not constitute "occupation." It also came from a leading member of Reagan's administration, the former dean of the Yale Law School and former undersecretary of State, Eugene Rostow, who asserted that "Israel has a stronger claim to the West Bank than any other nation or would-be nation [and] the same legal right to settle the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem as it has to settle Haifa or West Jerusalem."

Any suggestions, then, of "freezing" and halting "natural growth" are themselves not only illegal but quite immoral.

4. Well, the main headline involving political clashes between the "Chareidi" ultra-Orthodox in Jerusalem and the rest of the population there these days is about a parking garage operating on Shabbat. However there is another bizarre confrontation that has been less noticed. It was triggered because of an idiotic attempt to prohibit imports of fur into Israel.

Ronit Tirosh, a backbencher member of the Knesset from the Kadima Party, decided to try to drum up some votes for Kadima among animal rights nuts and people who think fur is murder. The problem is that a lot of the black-coated ultra-Orthodox guys wear fur "streimels," those archaic round fur hats that were in fashion in Poland 400 years ago and that some of the Chareidim think make them look more pious. Trust me, Moses and King David did not wear streimels.

But dubious taste in haberdashery aside, there was no reason to antagonize the Chareidim with a silly anti-fur law designed to appease animal rights nuts. After suggesting that the Chareidim just use synthetic furs, Tirosh and her cronies seem to be backing down now.

Which is good, because I have a confession to make. I have a streimel made out of fur. Actually it is a Davy Crocket hot with a raccoon's tail down the back of it, and I only wear my streimel on Purim and once in a while to spook my students. But on this I am with the Chareidim – and am telling Kadima politicians: Hands off my Tennessee-fur Streimel!

Friday, June 26, 2009

The Latest Atrocity at Tel Aviv University

1. As afterword on the Leonard Cohen story, one Plaut-lister sent me some information I did not know. Evidently Cohen lost his life savings in the stock market crash and was forced to go back on the road just to earn some lunch money.By the way, in all his new performances, Cohen insist on wearing this dorky "Rat Pack" style fedora hat.

2.. I happen to be one of those people who think that death does not get someone off the hook for having dabbled in anti-Semitism. With the whole world of pop and preadolescence in shock over the death of singer Michael Jackson, it behooves us to remind you all that Mikey also was prone to outbursts of anti-Semitism. This was many years before the reports that he was getting interested in Islam and building a mosque in Bahrain. (I am sure his interest in Islam was as genuine and deep as the interest by Madonna and Roseanne Barr in ka=BBBAAAALLLL-la – as they mispronounce it.)

A few years back Jackson took time off from riding the roller coaster with his 10 year old friends in "Neverland" and recorded a nasty anti-Semitic song with lyrics that included, "Kick me, Jew me," and similar sentiments. He also referred to Jews as leeches and other metaphors.

Here are some web items about Mikie's little problem with members of the chosen people who were over the age of 10:

There are reports out this week that yet another Hollywood entertainer is suddenly interested in Judaism. The newest one though is none other than Michael Jackson. This is the same Jackson who recorded a couple of years back a song featuring the words "Kike Me, Jew Me," which triggered a storm. At the time the head of the Anti-Defamation League, Abe Foxman, added Jackson to his list of Hollywood anti-Semites being granted papal absolution by Foxman, earning him his current nickname, the Twentieth Century Foxman.

Jackson's sudden interest in Judaism comes after the other highly publicized cases of entertainers taking an look into Jewish mysticism, including Madonna and Roseanne Barr. It is all part of a larger wave of Hollywood airheads getting "into" religion, which includes Richard Gere's adoption of Buddhism and John Travolta's levitating the molecules in his butt over to the Scientology "church". In Jackson's case, he has reportedly approached the controversial Rabbi Shmuel Boteach for "spiritual counseling". Boteach used to be a Rabbi at Oxford University, with ties to the Lubavitch movement, but is most famous these days for his saucy popularizing and discussing of Jewish attitudes towards sex (including an interview in Playboy).

Jackson's sudden interest in Judaism raises a number of questions, not least regarding the anti-Semitic song he recorded earlier. SO let me give you my reading of this new "Jewish" Michael Ben-Yaakov.

First of all, Mikey's "Kike Me, Jew Me" song appears in retrospect to be a desperate call to Reb Boteach to connect him to Judaism. Jackson=s constant grabbing of his crotch while singing has to do with his contemplation of that rite of passage necessary for any male to join Judaism and the fears it must arouse. Suppressed for decades is the fact that the REAL original unabridged name of the Jackson Five was the Jackson Fivebooksofmoses. And all that hanging around with twelve year olds that earned Jackson his reputation as a pederast? Why, he was just attending with them Bar Mitzvah lessons, that is all.

And what about Jackson's famous series of surgeries and medical douches, the ones that have produced of him a creature of ambiguous racial and gender identity? Friends, this was nothing more than the consequence of Jackson studying the Scroll of Ruth from the Bible and then, well, deciding that he wishes to look like Ruth.

3.. In Israeli academia nary a week goes by without some university holding a malicious one-sided anti-Israel "conference" consisting of hate propaganda misrepresented as scholarship. The participants in these "conferences" never seem to include anyone who thinks Israel has the right to exist and to defend itself. The conferences are pluralistic and balanced in the sense that they include both Jewish and Arab anti-Semites, and may contain a whole range of communists from different splinters.

Well, this coming week Tel Aviv University will once again show its disdain for academic standards and serious scholarship. It is to host yet another Bash-Israel one-sided indoctrination "conference," this one purporting to debate and discuss the Psychological Influences of Service in the Territories. In other words, it will be a pseudo-academic litany of rantings about how Israel's "occupation" of the "occupied territories" causes devastating psychic damage to both the "Palestinian" inhabitants of those areas and to the Israelis serving there in the security services.

Now I can absolutely guarantee you that not a single speaker at this grand academic event will mention any psychic damages caused to Jews from having thousands of rockets fired at their children by genocidal Islamofascist terrorists. There will also be no discussions of the psychological stress caused to those Jew civilians blown to smithereens by suicide bombers, or murdered by snipers. In fact, no one will even mention the psychic damages caused to Jews by Arab terrorists whose violence makes it necessary for Jews to give up their time to do reserve duty and otherwise help prevent the terrorists from murdering Jews. No one at all will mention any psychological damages done to Jews from Arab fascists demanding that Jews be mass murdered, or when Arab leaders deny there ever was a Holocaust or claim that Jews drink the blood of gentile children for Passover.

Here is the official description of the conference (I think the main difference between this Tel Aviv University event and the Holocaust Denial conference in Iran was that the coffee was better in Tehran). This North-Korean re-education "conference" will take place Sunday, June 28, 2009 at Tel-Aviv University in the Hall of Justice, the Trubowicz Law Faculty Building

Official conference announcement:

Conference: "The Psychological Influences of Service in the Territories" - June 28th

Israeli society imposes on its soldiers serving in the army the role of control over another nation - the Palestinian people living in the Territories; these soldiers serve as the almost exclusive contact between Israeli society and Palestinian society. In this conference we will examine the psychological influences of the army service in the occupied territories, both on the soldiers themselves and on the Jewish society in Israel, that avoids direct contact with the Palestinians in the Territories, but sends and receives back its sons and daughters in their army service there. We will examine how open these influences are and how they are spoken about in our society, army, and mental health personnel.

Nisim Avishar - Herzelia Interdisciplinary Center: Blurring, Denial and Silencing from Close-up: The psychologists in the army and the first Intifada. Psychoactive

Edna Lomsky-Feder (one of the thesis advisors for that infamous thesis claiming that Jewish soldiers do not rape Arab women because the Jews are such racists --- SP) - Hebrew University: Psychological Talk and Normalization of the effects of the Occupation

14:15-15:45 Small group discussions: The presence [lingering effects] of the Occupation in my personal and professional life

15:45-17:00 Final session

Chairman: Nachi Elon - psychodrama

Daniel Bartal - Tel Aviv University (who says that the Jews refusal to abandon Zionism is the real obstacle to peace and that Jews are racists but Arabs are not --- SP): The psychological impact of the Occupation on the Jewish society in Israel, and the price it pays for it.

Behind the name "Psychoactive" stands a group of mental health men/women who have taken upon themselves to be involved in social-political subjects in general, and in the Jewish-Arab conflict in the territories in particular. The group acts out of recognition of the basic rights of a person, as a person, to spiritual well-being, alongside physical well-being.

We recruit the tools at our disposal as men/women involved in the treating professions, to deepen the understanding and awareness of the subject of occupation, and the continuing war between the two nations, and its repercussions in the populations on both sides of the conflict. These tools also serve us in advancing healing processes and advancing the psychological welfare of the individual, which is influenced by the societal-political reality in which he lives.

The group is made up of Israeli Arabs and Jews, and contacts are made with Arab mental health personnel from the Palestinian Authority. Members come from the social work professions, both from the field and from the academic community.

The group serves as a laboratory for developing initiatives in these subjects, according to the personal initiatives of the members of the group. The group meets every few weeks in different parts of the country, and is in constant touch through an Internet list.

Our activity

…

Safety searches in Ben Gurion airport of Arab citizens: Writing of letters of protest against humiliating treatment of Arab citizens in searches in Ben Gurion airport. (They prefer that bombs go off on planes --- SP)

The psychological repercussions of the second Lebanon war: Writing and distributing petitions during the Lebanon war, that warn against the psychological repercussions on Israeli and Lebanese citizens. (Yeah, right, with no mention of the impact of 4000 katyusha rockets fired at the Jews)

A Study Day by PsychoActive Group 28.6.09Mental Health Professionals for Human RightsThe Psychological Effects of Military Service in the Occupied Territories on Soldiers and on Israeli Society

Israeli society entrusts the task of controlling and administering another nation, the Palestinian people, to the soldiers who serve in its army. These soldiers constitute the more or less exclusive interface between Israeli society and Palestinian society in the Occupied Territories. Their encounter with Palestinian residents - at the military checkpoints, carrying out arrests, and while undermining freedom in diverse other forms – takes place from a position of power, authority and control and very often involves infringements of basic human rights.This study day will offer an opportunity to consider the psychological effects of Israeli military service in the occupied Palestinian territories, from the point of view of the soldiers themselves, and from that of Jewish Israeli society as a whole, which, while avoiding any direct encounter with Palestinian people in the Occupied Territories, dispatches its conscripted sons and daughters to serve there . We shall also look into the question of the extent to which these effects are dealt with and discussed in Israeli society, within the army, and among mental health professionals.

Our activities have included (here are some neutral academic research projects --- SP):

• Protest against the manner in which Majid Kna'ane's trial was conducted. Kna'ane, an intern in psychology at the Jaffa Mental Health clinic, was accused and found guilty of committing security violations.

• Writing up and distributing a petition during the war in Lebanon, calling for its immediate end, as well as explaining its consequences for the mental state of the citizens of Israel and Lebanon.

• Co-organizing a public event during the Israeli offensive on Gaza: A Gathering to Mourn and to Protest: Grieve together & reject the massive killing of civilians.

• Gathering testimonies of current occurrences in Gaza and their distribution.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Leonard Cohen Takes you DOWN

For well over four decades now I have fantasizedabout punching Leonard Cohen in themouth. Sometimes the punch is followed by a piein the face. Sometimes by a wedgie.

I raise this matter of cosmic interest because Iwas taken back to the 60s as a result of thenews story this week that Cohen will be coming totown, and by town I mean "Palestine." This weekit was announced that Cohen, with his musicalposse, will be arriving in late September toperform in Israel and then in PLO-occupiedRamallah, where he is to be hosted by terroristsfrom the Fat'h militia. His Ramallah performancewill be nominally sponsored by the Israel-bashingterrorist-appeasing Amnesty International. OneKadura Fars, a Fat'h sidekick of jailedmass-murderer Marwan Barghouti, is to serve asCohen's local impresario and host interror-occupied Ramallah. . In an interviewabout his coming hajj to Terrorland, Cohenpontificated (see<http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3737035,00.html>http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3737035,00.htmlfor report in Hebrew) that in that land therelive two equal peoples equally entitled to a state each.

Yeah sure there are.

So Cohen is trying to pull a Daniel Barenboim without the baton.

Leonard Cohen became "in" back in the mid-1960s,at least he was "in" among certain varieties ofSixties characters and beatnik-wannabes whoslouched about the dingy alleys of my home townof Philadelphia. I recall that he became "cool"at just about the same time that super-comedianAlan Sherman released his delicious record album,"My Son, the Folksinger." For those of you belowthe age of 40, a record album is a wheel made ofvinyl plastic that makes music on prehistoriccontraptions called record players. If you havenever heard Alan Shepherd do his "folk singer"shtick, you can see some clips of his oldmaterials on Youtube. They are mind-blowing (ifyou excuse that Sixtiesism). I always assumedCohen was the real target of Sherman's mocking of folksingers.

Anyhow, Cohen himself, born 1934, grew up in aJewish home and a Jewish school in the Jewishpart of Montreal. He was into poetry and startedwriting songs in the 50s. Judy Collins, apeace-and-flower-power folk singer with a lovelyvoice but atrocious politics, made Cohen famousby singing some of his songs. (Collins was aregular sidekick to Stalinist folksinger Pete Seeger.)

Meanwhile, in my own Philly urban circles in themid-sixties, Cohen was becoming de rigueur amongall the "Beautiful People." In the SixtiesWoody Allen was still funny ("My wife is soimmature; she keeps coming in and sinking my bathtoys!"). Dobie Gillis was the best thing on theblack-and-white TV. Atlantic City had nocasinos. Cohen could have been a San Fran flowerchild in a 60s Love-In or a Berkeley street performer.

The "Beautiful People" were the insufferabletwits who ran around using the word "beautiful"instead of punctuation marks, describing everyexperience and every person they could as being"really beautiful." Most of the "BeautifulPeople" were actually chicks, although they werefollowed about by pimply young guys willing topepper their own speech with the phrase "reallybeautiful" in the hope of touching the chests ofsome of the Beautiful-People chicks. I saychests, because back in the mid-1960s teenagers(at least the ones I knew in Philly) seemed onlyvaguely aware of the existence of additionalbases surpassing that comprising secondbase. Even worse, I went to an all-boys highschool, which means that few of my friends hadever gotten even to "first base." We had heard arumor about a girl in one of the local Catholichigh schools who had to quit school because shehad gotten pregnant, but we were not too clear on how that worked.

I guess the best way to sum up the cultural chasmbetween then and now is to note that the word"cop" today is a noun that can take theaccusative or objective case within a sentenceand the word "feel" is a transitive verb, butback in my Sixties all-boys high school it wasthe exact grammatical opposite. If I lost youon that, I am afraid I cannot elaborate withoutrisking my GP rating as a family incitement service.

Overall, when I became acquainted with his music,I thought Cohen was a bit of an "over-Beautiful"jerk, although I must admit that even I waswilling to hum "Susanne Takes you Down" if itwould get me a Saturday Night date. Nay, Iconfess, it was even worse than that. Later, asan undergraduate, when I earned my lunch money bygiving guitar lessons to some younger Phila.souls, I distinctly remember teaching the chordsand words to "Susanne" and to a few other Cohen songs.

Aside from the peace-love-and-flower-powerposturing of the "beautiful" Leonard Cohen, Iguess what I really found insufferable enough tomotivate my fantasy of punching him in the facewas his obnoxious lyrics about Jesus. What was anice Canadian Jewish poet, one named Cohen noless, doing writing Jesus lyrics and other songswith Christian themes? And they were not evenvery good, so my guess is my Christian 60sfriends found them irritating as well. Cohendoes occasionally use imagery from the Tanakh,that Testament you'd think a Cohen would want touse, like in a song about Isaac or another aboutKing David (see<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOI5ApiaYw0>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOI5ApiaYw0), although he mangles the stories and the imagesthere. He has also dabbled in Buddhism and wrotea book called Beautiful Loser (catch theBeautiful, guys? And he was not even trying toundo a chick's bra when he wrote it!), whichsupposedly contains his Zen "ideas."

Cohen came to Israel and appeared before Israelitroops during the Yom Kippur war, but his cozyingup to Palestinian terrorists these days dousesany credit he might still be enjoying forthat. There is a rumor he met Ariel Sharon atthe time. But his interest in Israel wasfleeting, while his politically correct leftistgoofiness has stayed with him for decades.

Still, there was a quiet amusement, together withsome nice chord sequences, in some of Cohen'ssongs, and I can still tolerate listening to upto 3 or 4 of his songs every few months. Cohenwas never a superstar, in spite of the moronwriting in one of the Israeli newspapersrecently, who put him up on the same pedestalwith Dylan and the Beatles as 60s icons. Yeah sure he was.

Well into his 70s, starting in 2008 Cohenreturned to perform, and still sings and doessome concerts, although his voice has becomerather weak. Other people sometimes make it bigrecording Cohen songs. The accompanying Cohenbackground singers and instruments have notchanged much in 40 years. I happened to catchhim on an Israeli cable channel recently when thewife selfishly would not let me change thechannel to watch the Simpsons. The main changethat I noticed was that Cohen these days isobnoxiously politically correct and singsatrocious political songs. One of his newernumbers proclaim,s with a military beat thatsounds like a German marching song, that soon wewill bring democracy to America. In other words,America is not democratic at all and needs us 60sBeautiful People who know how to undo bras whilesniffing tulips to conduct a revolution and makeit democratic. Another even worse-soundingTeutonic marching song proclaims, "First We'llTake Manhattan and then We'll Take Berlin."

More beautiful people with flowers in their hairbringing enlightenment to the barbarians, I guess.

Cohen probably thinks that the Palestinianterrorhoids who will be hosting him also spendtheir days reading Zen, talking to flowers,listening to Joan Baez, and trying to undo thebras of the Really-Beautiful People. He probablyhas not heard about those thousands of PLOrockets landing on the beautiful Jews who live inSderot and Netivot. And I am sure it veryoccurred to him to protest Obama's plans to expelthe beautiful settlers from their beautiful homesin beautiful Judea and Samaria.

All of which is why I would still really like topunch him in the face, throw a pie at him, givehim an atomic wedgie, or maybe even a whirly.*

The Jihad Sheikh with his minions at the University of HaifaWell, things were already looking disgraceful and<http://thejewishpress.blogspot.com/2009/06/apartheid-comes-to-university-of-haifa.html>embarrassingenough for the University of Haifa, thanks to theapproval of the heads of the university to allowthe Jihad Sheikh,<http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3733099,00.html>RaedSalah, the head of the Islamofascist movementamong Israeli Moslems, to speak on campus thispast week. The Jihad Sheikh there called for Arabstudents to become "shaheed martyrs," code forsuicide bombers. Moreover, the university hadalso given official instructions to the guardspresent to prevent Jewish students from enteringthe lecture hall in which the Jihad Sheikh wasspeaking. The Jewish student protesters presentdescribed the behavior of the guards, followinguniversity instructions, as the conducting of a"selection" (the name for the separation out ofJews done by the Germans). But then theuniversity got itself in even deeper when itissued a statement that denied altogether thatthe Jewish students had been barred from enteringthe lecture hall or that the university officialshad given any such instructions to the guards.That statement can be<http://wordpress.haifa.ac.il/?p=1155>read herein Hebrew: It says explicitly that Jews were NOT barred from entering.

Except they were. The university is for allintents and purposes trying to cover up thedisgrace of ordering that the lecture hall forthe terrorist Salah be kept judenrein. Numerousmedia outfits, including those with leftistleanings, have confirmed that Jewish studentswere barred from entering. Eyewitness reportsalso confirm this. And the very same disingenuousstatement by the university DENYING that Jewishstudents were barred from entering the hall thengoes on to explain why it was necessary to keepthem out: to avoid violence and confrontationinside the lecture hall. Of course violence andconfrontation could also have been avoided bypreventing the Jihad Sheikh from entering thecampus in the first place and also by giving hisstudent hosts the bum's rush straight to the GazaStrip. The university statement says that theuniversity had no legal choice but to allow theSheikh to address the Arab students on campusfacilities. This is also a lie. Not only did theuniversity have a choice, but – given theSheikh's call for terrorism and violence in hisspeech – the university had a legal OBLIGATION tobar him from campus and may have broken the lawby allowing him to engage in incitement to violence in the campus.

But now, the most damning report of all appearsin the Haifa weekly Zman Haifa June 19, 09, page20. In its news report by its education reporterOrna Nirenfeld the weekly not only confirms thatthe guards were under university orders toprevent Jewish students from entering the lecturehall in which the Jihad Sheikh was calling forthe murder of Jews, but the Jewish protestersnear the hall were also assaulted and beaten bythe guards in their efforts to keep the lecturehall judenrein. One student describes how womenwearing headscarves and men with Arab-lookingfeatures were being waved through while anyoneobviously Jewish was being stopped and werephysically being pushed away from the entrance byover-zealous guards. Among the students violentlybeaten by the guards was Shlomo Variett, head ofthe "Lavi" student organization on campus.

The Jewish students barred from entering the hallheld their own noisy protest against the JihadSheikh outside the hall, waving Israeli flags andsinging Hatikva. One ultra anti-Israel professorat the University of Haifa, Micah Leshem ofpsychology, demanded that the University takedisciplinary action against the JEWISH counter-protesters!!

------------------------------A new pamphlet the details the brutal history of Gaza's jihadist rulers.

It is one of the oddities of the global war on terrorism that while al-Qaedais almost universally condemned, its Sunni terrorist counterparts in Hamascontinue to attract a devoted following. Former president Jimmy Carterannually sings Hamas's praises, insisting to all who will listen thatWestern governments must reach out to Gaza's jihadist rulers. At "peace"demonstrations and on college campuses, banners are waved in honor of thegroup openly sworn to the destruction of Israel and the extermination ofJews worldwide. All this and more is the subject of Steven Plaut'sdevastating new pamphlet, "Hamas: The Terror Elite."

In a sweeping survey of Hamas's bloody history, Plaut reveals that theterror group remains unwaveringly committed to its goal of carrying out anew genocide against Jews. Plaut also describes the little-mentioned realitythat the self-described "legitimate" representative of the Palestinian peopleis also their most brutal tormentor. Terrorizing its own, Hamas torturesGaza's residents, forces them to live under oppressive Islamic law, anddispatches "vice squads" to deal with those who dare to defy its fanaticalrule. It's little wonder that Hamas has found its firmest allies in themullahs of Iran and Osama Bin Laden's terrorist shock troops. As Plaut'spamphlet shows beyond any doubt, "Hamas and al-Qaeda are basically two sidesof the same Jihad." To read "Hamas: The Terror Elite," please click here.<http://wdl3.streamhoster.com/seanruiz/Other/Hamas-Steven%20Plaut.pdf>

4. The atrocity at the University of Haifa, in which the IslamofascistSheikh Raed Salah (head of the Islamofascist movement in israel) was invited by a pro-jihad group of Arab students to speak on campus and where Jewish students were barred from entering th electure hall, continues to make tsunami waves. The Sheikh there called on Arab students to become shaheed(code for suicide bombing terrorists) martyrs. First the University ofHaifa has issued an official statement regarding the event. It can beviewed in Hebrew here: http://wordpress.haifa.ac.il/?p=1155

It essentially says that while the University of Haifa dislikes the idea of the Jihad Sheikh speaking, it cannot stop him and cannot stop theArabs student group from inviting anyone it pleases to campus. It thencontains a denial that Jews were barred from entering the lecture hall, butin the very next sentence the statement contradicts itself. It insists thatallowing Jewish students into the hall (a group of noisy Zionist studentswaving Israeli flags was demonstrating OUTSIDE the hall) would have createdthe conditions for violent confrontation and would have been a clear andpresent danger.

So to put this in simple English, the claim that Jewish students were NOTbarred from the lecture hall is false and the very same statement debunksits own claim. Incidentally, the claim has been debunked by others. In aposting to an internal chat list of University of Haifa profs, Yuval Yonay,one of the most openly anti-Israel and pro-Hamas members of the faculty (he teaches "Queer Studies" and a one-sided indoctrination course called"Sociology of the Occupation" in which no pro-Israel materials areincluded), reports - while supporting the speech by the Jihad Sheikh - thathis own Jewish students confirmed to him that THEY were barred from enetringthe lecture hall because they are Jews. And no one would ever suspectYonay of inventing such a claim to promote a Zionist political agenda.

I would like to see the University play the "academic freedom fiddle" if some students were to invite Moshe Feiglin to speak on campus (while barring Arab students from entering the lecture hall?) or some leader of one of the fringe Kahanist groups. I have a month's salary bet on the University banning the talk on grounds that it would represent "racism." (Tel Aviv University banned a student art exhibit protesting the treatrment of the Falun Gong cult group, because the university was afraid it would offend the China Embassy staff.) (For details go tohttp://www.isracampus.org.il/third%20level%20pages/TAU%20-%20Pandering%20to%20Communism.htm)

The University, like other universities in similar circumstances, rags onabout freedom of speech on campus. Well, I happen to know of Jewishstudents who tried to enter Haifa U campus with Israeli flags to support theCast Lead operations against the Hamas and they were prevented fromentering.

It is entitled, "There are Anti-Semitic Faculty Members at the University ofHaifa" and Bukay writes a damning expose. Bukay himself has been persecutedand harassed in the past because he dared to make politically incorrectstatements in class. (Compare that with the passivity of the University whenit comes to Yonay's "Sociology of the Occupation" in-classroomindoctrination!)

4. Ben Dror Yemini, the editor of Maariv, is at his best in his column thisweekend. If I find the whole thing in English I will post it, but here isone segment I will translate for you. It is a citation from the Arabfascist Azmi Bishara, who used to be a Knesset Member in Israel. He is now in hiding, wanted by Israel for espionageand treason for providing the Hezballah with intelligence during the 2006war (designed to help it shoot rockets at the Jews).

Yemini cites Bishara as saying in an inteview (I may be translating Yemini's own translation into Hebrew of what Bishara said in English, but bear with me):

"I do not think there is any Palestinian people at all. I think there isan Arab people. I always thought this. I think the 'Palestinian people' isnothing but a colonialist invention. When was there ever such a nation orpeople?"

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Islamofascist Invited to University of Haifa Calls for Suicide Bombing Attacks on Jews

Sorry to be overwhelming you with emails on this story, but I thought you would find it interesting to hear this one additional twist on the story.

We have been reporting to you how the University of Haifa approved not only the speaking of the head of the Islamofascist pro-Hamas "Islamic Movement" in Israel on campus but even okayed the idea of conducting anti-Jewish "selection" at the entrance to prevent Jewish students from attending the lecture. The lecture hall was kept Judenrein.

Just try to imagine the responses of the university if a group of Jewish students had sought to conduct any sort of event or lecture on campus, even Yom Kippur services, in which Arabs students were to be be preventing physically from entering a campus facility! If non-Jewish students were to bar Jewish students from entering a lecture hall anywhere else, even at such pro-jihad campuses as York University in Toronto, the whole world would be up in arms.

In any case, now it turns out, as reported in Hebrew here http://www.news1.co.il/Archive/001-D-204315-00.html?tag=10-48-36 ,on the NEWS 1 web site in Israel, that the good sheikh in question called upon Arab students at his judenrein lecture to engage in suicide bombings against Jews and become "shaheeds", or "martyrs", a code word for suicide bombers.

The one piece of good news in all of this is that it is also reported that the Council on Higher Education is being called together by the new Likud Minister of Education to discuss the event and the behavior of the University of Haifa.

The Jewish students were protesting against the event and the fact that theuniversity only allowed Arab students to take part in it. A HaifaUniversityofficial said that Salah had not been invited by theinstitution and thatthere was no legal way to prevent him from coming….

University officials noted that they had reservations over the event andthat they had managed to prevent Salah from visiting the place for severalyears, including on the recent Land Day, but that legal advice given to theuniversity recently stated that it could no longer reject students' requeststo have the Islamic leader lecture to them.

(Can we assume that Holocaust Deniers will be invited soon to theuniversity? --- SP)

The Students' Union said in a statement that it condemned "any racist actwhich includes hatred and a desire to incite. We hope for coexistence, andsuch a speech and such a person creates provocations and disrupts the orderwithin the university's walls. We will not sit idly by as such a seriousincident takes place in our home."

The Union said its members had only found out about the events on Wednesdaybecause the invitations were written in Arabic. They estimated that had theyknown about the event earlier, the number of protestors would have been muchhigher.

University of Haifa students clashed with security officers Wednesdayafternoon while protesting a highly charged speech given to a group ofMuslim students by the leader of the Islamic Movement's northern branch,Sheikh Raed Salah.

Outraged over both Salah's words and the fact that Jewish students werebarred from entering the auditorium as he spoke, some 150 protestersgathered outside the auditorium waving Israeli flags and yelling "This isnot Teheran."

Speaking about the idea of making concessions in Jerusalem, Salah told thecrowd, "We love life, our families, our homes and our children, but if theysuggest that we give up our principles and holy sites, we would rather dieand we welcome death."

He also claimed that Israel is constantly digging tunnels under the TempleMount and that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was planning to rebuild theTemple.

Students clashed with the security officers outside, as chants of "*Allahhu-akbar*" came from the auditorium in response to Raed's remarks. Policewere dispatched to the scene but not required to intervene.

University officials said they were unhappy with the event and that they hadmanaged to prevent Salah from visiting the institution for several years,but that recently the university's lawyers had said it could no longerreject students' requests to have the Islamic leader lecture to them.

Addressing the Jewish students' claims, university officials said that theyhad banned entry to the event so as to prevent disturbances.

"In previous events as well, in which [Foreign Minister Avigdor] Liebermanand [former Defense Minister Shaul] Mofaz gave lectures, we barred the Arabstudents from entering," one of the officials said.In a statement, the Students' Union said that it condemned, "any racist actwhich includes hatred and a desire to incite. We hope for coexistence, andsuch a speech and such a person creates provocations and disrupts the orderwithin the university's walls. We will not sit idly by as such a seriousincident takes place in our home."

2. The WAFA news service of the Palestinian terrorists has announced it islaunching a news service in Hebrew, so that its messages of terrorism andanti-Semitism can reach Hebrew readers. The story is here:http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1093862.html

"Islamic Movement leader Sheikh Raed Salah gave a talk to Arab students at Haifa University on Wednesday, while Jewish students were not allowed into the lecture hall.".

Salah is the head of the Islamofascist "Islamic Movement" in Northern Israel. Arab students invited him to speak at the University of Haifa. The Haifa chiefs did nothing to stop him coming. They also did nothing to stop the Nazi-like "selection" that prevented Jewish students from entering the lecture hall where the Islamofascist was speaking.

What will be next at the University of Haifa. Spot inspections in the corridors of the noses of students to weed out the Jews?

To whom can you complain?

University of Haifa:President of the University of HaifaProf. Aaron Ben-Ze.evUniversity of HaifaMt Carmel, 31905 Haifa IsraelTel: 972-4-8240101Fax: 972-4-8240281E-mail: abenzeev@univ.haifa.ac.il

Monday, June 15, 2009

The Silly and Harmful Fantasy of "Two States for Two Peoples"

Subject: The Silly and Harmful Fantasy of "Two States for Two Peoples"

The Silly and Harmful Fantasy of "Two States for Two Peoples"By Steven Plaut

Those who support the "Two States for Two Peoples" doctrine, and I suppose that now one must even include Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu in that category, no matter how reluctantly he joined it, have a very simple position. Indeed, the entire "Two States for Two Peoples" doctrine can be summed up in one simple idea, in fact in onXye simple sentence. It is this: maybe after the Palestinians get their own state, then they will agree to live in peace with Israel. No matter how complex and "scholarly" is any article or position paper that supports "Two States for Two Peoples" doctrine, once one clears away the verbiage it all boils down to that one simple idea.

To put it even more strongly, no one who is currently promoting "Two States for Two Peoples" would still be promoting it if they could be persuaded beyond all doubt that the Palestinians would NOT live in peace after getting their own state under "Two States for Two Peoples," or if they discovered with certainty that the second of those states ("Palestine") would be used for nothing other than terrorist aggression. Well, almost no one would. In the increasingly anti-Semitic Left around the world and even at the margins of the Israeli Far Left there are already people arguing that Israel should agree to "Two States for Two Peoples" even if it is totally clear and obvious that "Palestine" will be used for nothing besides terrorist aggression against Israel. They support that idea because they think that creating a Palestinian state is the right thing to do no matter how destructive it will be and no matter how disastrous for Israel will be the consequences of its creation. The more honest far Leftists defend this position by admitting that they want Israel annihilated and all of its Jews thrown into the sea.

Today to promote "Two States for Two Peoples" requires a bit of cognitive dissonance. After all, Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip, turning it over to the "Palestinian Authority," and the whole world saw the consequences. They included 8000 rocket missiles aimed at Jewish civilians inside Israel. So those who insist that the Palestinian will desire to live in peace once they have their own state are about as consistent and credible as are people who argue that North Korea and Iran will seek genuine peace once they get nuclear weapons, or those that once insisted that Hitler would be satisfied once he gets the Sudetenland.

But more generally, the whole "Two States for Two Peoples" campaign is nothing more than a special case of the "Then Maybe they Will" doctrine. For the past 30 years the Israeli political establishment has been prisoner to the "Then Maybe They Will" doctrine. Every major policy decision made by the government has reflected the power of wishful thinking and faith in the make-pretend. Here is a brief recapitulation of the doctrine:

If Israel gives Sinai back to the Egyptians, THEN MAYBE THEY WILL stop the Nazi-like anti-Semitic propaganda in their state-run media.

If Israel agrees to limited autonomy for Palestinians, THEN MAYBE THEY WILL stop seeking Israel's destruction and the world will not try to set up an independent Palestinian Arab terror state.

If Israel provides the Palestinian Authority with arms and funds, THEN MAYBE THEY WILL not be used for terrorist atrocities against Israel.

If Israel grants its Arab citizens affirmative action preferences, THEN MAYBE THEY WILL stop cheering terrorists and seeking the annihilation of Israel and its Jewish population.

If Israel frees thousands of jailed Palestinian terrorists, THEN MAYBE THEY WILL renounce violence and not murder any more Jews.

If Israel agrees to hold talks with representatives of the PLO, THEN MAYBE THEY WILL put a stop to Palestinian terrorism.

If Israel allows the Palestinians to hold elections, THEN MAYBE THEY WILL not elect Hamas.

If the Palestinians elect Hamas, THEN MAYBE THEY WILL not pursue a program of aggression and terrorism against Israel.

If Israel holds talks with terrorists, THEN MAYBE THEY WILL renounce their genocidal ambitions and seek peace.

If Israel conducts a unilateral withdrawal from all of southern Lebanon and allows Hezb'allah terrorists to station rockets on the border, THEN MAYBE THEY WILL not launch any of them.

If Israel sits back while the Syrians exert their hegemony over Lebanon, THEN MAYBE THEY WILL rein in Hezb'allah and stop border attacks on Israel.

If Israel refrains from retaliating against Hezb'allah terrorists after they murder captive Israeli soldiers in cold blood, THEN MAYBE THEY WILL not seek to kidnap any more soldiers.

If Israel agrees to one cease-fire after another with the Arabs, THEN MAYBE THE ARABS WILL eventually comply with one.

If Israel allows Arabs in Israel to build illegally, including on public lands, THEN MAYBE THEY WILL become pro-Israel and moderate.

If Israel agrees to the stationing of UN troops in Lebanon, THEN MAYBE THEY WILL actually do something to stop terror attacks on Israel.

If Israel ignores Hezb'allah border violations, THEN MAYBE THEY WILL come to an end.

If Israel lets the Muslims control the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, THEN MAYBE THEY WILL respond with friendship and moderation.

If Israel expels all Jews from Gaza as a gesture of friendship to the Palestinians, THEN MAYBE THEY WILL reciprocate with friendship toward the Jews.

If Israel turns the Gaza Strip over to the Palestinians, THEN MAYBE THEY WILL not use it as a base for terror attacks against Israel.

If Israel turns the other cheek after Qassam rocket attacks from Gaza, THEN MAYBE THEY WILL stop being fired.

If Israel allows the Palestinian Authority to control parts of the West Bank, THEN MAYBE THE PALESTINIANS WILL not fire rockets at Jews the same way they do from Gaza.

If Israel returns the Golan Heights to Syria THEN MAYBE THE SYRIANS WILL seek peace and reject the idea of using the Heights to attack Israel again.

If Israel agrees to place its neck in the Oslo/Road Map/Saudi Plan noose, THEN MAYBE THE ARABS WILL not pull the rope.

If Israel officially agrees in principle to let the Palestinians have a state, THEN MAYBE THEY WILL abandon their agenda of annihilating Israel.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Prof. Daniel Bar-Tal (Tel Aviv University): It's the Zionism, Stupid!

*Tel-Aviv University – Daniel Bar-Tal (Dept of Psychology) reveals newgospel – Zionism is the main obstacle to peace*

*Would you buy a research from an academic who uses it merely to reinforcehis own ideological prejudice? From somebody who thinks that the SecondIntifada was actually provoked by Israel? From a man who believes thatZionism is the mother of all evil? And from the same lecturer who wants tosilence his critics by complaining to the university authorities. From TelAviv University psychologist comes:*

*It's the Zionists, stupid!*By Alon Ben Shaul A new anti-Jewish gospel was revealed to us mortalsrecently from the enlightened Left encamped within Tel-Aviv University. Itis this: for peace to be achieved in the Middle East, the Israelis mustrecognize their responsibility for the "tragedy" that they inflicted uponthe Palestinians in 1948. As long as the Israelis deny their collectiveguilt for the Palestinians becoming refugees and deny that the Palestinianswere maliciously expelled by them, then all reconciliation is a pipe dream.Hence, Israel's acknowledging Arab "suffering" is a key to reaching asettlement in the region. Embracing Zionist "dogma" is, accordingly the mainobstacle to peace. In short, "holding such a Zionist narrative serves as anobstacle to peace since it promotes negative emotions, mistrust,de-legitimization and negative stereotypes of Arabs and Palestinians." Theauthor of those words is Daniel Bar-Tal, a University of Tel-Aviv Professorof Educational Psychology. No wonder. He (jointly with his colleague RafiNets-Zehngut) is behind what he himself considers "pioneering research" intothe Jewish collective memory of 1948. His conclusion was: "Israeli Jews'consciousness is characterized by a sense of victimization, a siegementality, blind patriotism, belligerence, self-righteousness,dehumanization of the Palestinians and insensitivity to theirsuffering…" Bar-Tallaments the fact that his study shows that most Israelis accept the'official version' (or "narrative") of the conflict's history with thePalestinians, the one where the Jews are the victims of Arab terrorism,genocidal aggression and hatred. "Most of the nation retains a simplisticcollective memory of the conflict, a black-and-white memory that portrays usin a very positive light and the Arabs in a very negative one…" 1 ButBar-Tal has a new "revelation" based on a biased public opinion survey thathe conducted. In it he finds surprising self-denunciatory attitudes on thepart of Israeli Jews regarding Israel's ongoing conflict with Arabs andPalestinians. With regard to the main historical event of the conflict - the1948 Palestinian exodus – Bar-Tal reports: "39% of Israeli Jews surveyedbelieve expulsion by Israel was one of the factors leading to that exodus,in addition to Palestinian fear and the call of Arabs/Palestinian leaders toleave." (In reality, 39% of those he surveys say isolated instances offorced expulsion of Arabs played some role in the Palestinian flightfrom Israel,among many other factors.) This finding is a source of satisfaction forBar-Tal and his co-researcher and they explain: "The fact that we found thismemory of the conflict to be somewhat critical (even though the conflict isstill going on) is encouraging. It suggests that the Israeli-Jewish societyhas changed to become more critical, open and self-reflective, allowing itto adopt less biased narratives."2 Bar-Tal, true to the familiar rhetoric ofthe Tel Aviv Leftist clique, believes that expressing Israeli "guilt" overthe 1948 events offers a remedy for the future. In his opinion, the factthat 39% of Israeli Jews supposedly believe in the "expulsion theory" provesthat they are self-critical and feel evil and guilty. But it is clear as daythat the formulation of the question in the survey was totally flawed. Evenif 39% of Israelis indeed believe that some "expulsion" was a component ofthe Palestinian exodus, one should have asked them to elaborate. After all,many would have said that some cases of "expulsion" were inevitable, sincethe alternative was a total annihilation of the *Yishuv*, the Jewishpopulation of pre-state Israel. They may have also added that cases of"expulsion" were responses to the war that was waged against the JewishCommunity by the belligerent and aggressive Arab firepower. The"researchers" write that Israelis think that instances of "expulsion" were"one of the factors" leading to that exodus, "in addition to Palestinianfear and the call of the Arab/Palestinian leaders to leave." One of thefactors, along with things like disruption of food supplies and fear ofbeing caught in the crossfire? In other words, these 39% of Israelisactually claim there were a host of reasons for the Palestinians becomingrefugees, and cases of "expulsion" were only one of them. So why is it thatthe "expulsion theory" response is separated out and celebrated by Bar-Talin complete divorce from these other factors? In other words, how can thissurvey be taken seriously by any social scientist? As it turns out, in thesurvey itself (in which only 500 people participated), only 8% of Israelissaid they believe the Palestinian refugees were in the main "expelled" bythe Jews That figure was added to Bar-Tal's magical "39%," the people whosaid some instances of expulsion did take place, and the total sum of 47%became the headline for a press release issued by the "researchers." Thatheadline was picked up by the Columbia Teachers College in New York, whereNets-Zehngut is doing his PhD, and has been very widely quoted in the mediaever since. It typically reads: "Study Surprisingly Finds 47% ofIsraeli-Jews believe that the 1948 Palestinian Refugees were expelled byIsrael." But the survey responses were intentionally manipulated anddistorted by these "academics," no doubt for purposes of serving theirideological agenda. Needless to say, Bar-Tal himself did not conduct anysurvey among the Palestinians. One can only assume that 100% of those wholive in Gaza, Nablus and Jaffa would reject the "Zionist narrative" andblame Israel entirely for creating the refugee problem. No doubt the vastmajority would say that the Jews have no right at to any land in the MiddleEast. However, Bar-Tal and his crowd never bother to collect surveys ofPalestinians or other Arabs. That way he never has to blame them for beingan "obstacle to peace." He also intentionally overlooks the fact that hisown survey shows that 41% of Israelis accept the "Zionist narrative" in fulland reject the claim that even some instances of partial expulsion ofPalestinians took place in 1948. These people say that there is one and onlyone reason for the Palestinians becoming refugees and that is that they fledat their leaders' behest and on their own accord. This finding depressesBar-Tal and he wrings his hands over it. The lesson he draws from it is thatthe Israeli public has not changed its reactionary racist views, even in theaftermath of the last military Israeli-Palestinian confrontation. "Is it anywonder," he asks, "that the same public also buys the establishmentexplanation of the operation in Gaza?" *The "truth" about Camp David* Bar-Talhas a habit of placing the onus for continuing Middle East hostilities uponIsrael in his "research" and media interviews. Parts of his survey addressedthe failure of the Camp David summit in spring 2000. Bar-Tal notes the "hardline" that was taken by Israeli Jews: " 56% believe that Yasser Arafatdeclined a very generous peace offer by Ehud Barak because he did not wantpeace with Israel, versus only 25% who believe both parties were responsiblefor the failure and 3% who believed that Barak was responsible." In otherwords, 56% of Israelis dared to tell the truth in their response to hisquestions! But in the same paragraph in the same press release about his own"pioneering work," the Bar-Tal turns our attention to another historicalevent. The researchers report that 60% of those surveyed replied that in the1947 United Nations' partition plan of the Land of Israel/Palestine, thePalestinians received an equal or larger part of the territory, relative totheir percentage of its population. However, they remind us, "The facts arethat the partition plan, which was rejected by the Palestinians, offeredthem (about 2/3 of the total population then) a smaller part of theterritory (only 44%)." Benjamin Disraeli would have called this lying withstatistics. The professor wants to tell us that the Israelis have noknowledge of their own history, hence their negative bigoted attitude totheir enemies. And their "ignorance" over the Partition Plan is a proof. Butthe inevitable conclusion that any informed reader will draw is that Bar-Talis simply twisting the facts. In doing so he shows that he lacks all shredof academic integrity. It also shows how his "survey" was conducted with nomeasure of good faith. They try to give the impression that if the Jewishpopulation of 1948 or Yishuv was offered a territory that was smaller thanthe one offered to the Palestinian-Arabs, the latter would have accepted itand the conflict would have been avoided. The truth, as we all know, is thatthe Arabs rejected any territorial compromise or any sort, while the Jewswere willing to embrace any stretch of land on which they could have ahomeland. Moreover, the Arabs were opposed the existence of any Jewishcommunity in Palestine, as they demonstrated by perpetuating the massacresof the 1920s and 1930s. And what about the fact that the land offered toIsrael was the least fertile and was not heavily populated by Arabs? Finally, Bar-Tal takes as the defining demographic balance that which wasin place in November of 1947, when the UN passed its partition proposal. Butthat partition was designed to create a Jewish state into which millions ofhomeless refugees could be absorbed. The Arabs already had a large number ofoppressive undemocratic states in their control and had no moral claim atall for getting one more in the Land of Israel. The Bar-Tal study also foundthat older Israelis and more religious ones are more likely to believe whatthey call the "Zionist narrative." Furthermore, those supporting the"Zionist narrative" were significantly less likely to support peaceagreements with the Palestinians and Syria, "pointing to the important roleof collective memory in conflicts." In addition, a strong connection wasfound between the collective memory of "past Jewish persecution" (regardinganti-Semitism and the Holocaust) and understanding of the conflict. Peopleholding a strong memory of Jewish persecution are much more likely to adoptthe "Zionist narrative." This memory of persecution is discussed as one ofthe determinants of Israel's evil conduct in the conflict. In other words,holding the "Zionist narrative" is a recipe for intransigence and serves asan obstacle to peace in the Middle East. Zionism, especially when it isbased on Jewish history, is THE problem. And as long as its believers do notabandon Zionism and cure themselves of it, the conflict will continue. *Thoseterrible TERRIBLE Israelis…*

No one would mistake Bar-Tal for a serious scholar, but he has been aconsistent one. He was obsessed with the evils of Zionism throughout hisacademic career. Long ago he published a study of 124 textbooks used byIsraeli elementary, middle and high schools in Israel from the 1950s through1970s. He found them "supremacist and racist." He claimed that Arabs inthese books were associated with* "primitiveness, inferiority, cruelty,brutality, untrustworthiness, fanaticism, treacherousness andaggressiveness."* *3* They were also described as *"murderers," "rioters,""deviate," "cruel," "immoral," "unfair," "robbers," "killers,""bloodthirsty" "suspicious," "unenlightened," "fatalistic," "unproductive,""apathetic," "tribal," "vengeful," "exotic," "poor," "sick," "dirty,""noisy," "colored" and "easily inflamed*." The Jews were portrayed as*"industrious,""brave" and determined to cope with the difficulties of improving thecountry in ways they believe the Arabs are incapable of."* Bar-Tal has neverbothered to conduct any study of Arab textbooks or what they say about Jews.

Bar-Tal's "research" on school stereotypes was seized by the *WashingtonReport on Middle East Affairs*,*4* which published an interview with theauthor about the study under the headline "Israeli Textbooks and Children'sLiterature Promote Racism and Hatred toward Palestinians and Arabs.".

Bar-Tal told the writer, Maureen Meehan, "*This attitude served to justifythe return of the Jews, implying that they care enough about the country toturn the swamps and deserts into blossoming farmland; this effectivelydelegitimizes the Arab claim to the same land*," He also added that *"themessage was that the Palestinians were primitive and neglected the countryand did not cultivate the land."*

In his book, "Stereotypes and Prejudice in Conflict: Representations ofArabs in Israeli Jewish Society" (co-written with Yona Teichman), hemaintained that the Middle East conflict is kept alive by the stereotypesthat the Israelis hold about the Arabs (but not the other way around!),while providing no evidence of this.*5* More tellingly, the book ignores thenaked incitements and blood libels that exist in Palestinian schoolbooks, asubject that has been widely discussed during the Oslo process. The Arabrevival of the *Protocols of the Elders of Zion*, their embracing *DerSturmer-style* propaganda, and their calls for genocide are all absent fromtheir book. The authors also refrain from exposing readers to what is sowidespread in the Arab media – the demonization of Jews as those whosupposedly spread AIDS by using prostitutes, poison wells, shoot depleteduranium to cause infertility, drink children's blood for Passover,contaminate food, and so on. While not even mentioning Arab cartoons,Bar-Tal and sidekick prefer to ignore the simple fact that Israel is underconstant existential threat. Bar-Tal argues that these images are designedmerely to raise a sense of fear and insecurity among the Israeli Jews.

With a similar approach in 2007, he analyzed the role of the Gadna "youthcorps" (preparatory course for teenagers before joining the army), and afterstudying its pre-military training described it as "unduly militaristic." Thenew Gadna program includes training in squad-sized operations, night treksand shooting, designed to prepare young Israeli boys and girls before theybecome IDF conscripts. However, Bar-Tal said in an interview that *"one getsthe impression that the program was prepared in the 1950s, in the previouscentury.* *It perpetuates a security-minded outlook."* By that he meantsomething not good. His colleague, Matanya Ben Artzi, a far-leftistprofessor of mathematics from the Hebrew University, called it a "takeoverby the army of the high school" and "wiping out of the values of an entiregeneration."*6**Gaza? It's not what you think…* Bar-Tal draws a direct line between Haifa,1948 to Gaza, 2008, raising the suspicion that all his references to the"Zionist dogma" are actually attempts at undermining the legitimacy ofIsrael. His "pioneering research study," (dealing with Israeli Jews' memoryof the conflict with the Arabs "from its inception to the present," as hedescribes it) coincided with the recent battle in Gaza. The sweeping Israelisupport for "Operation Cast Lead" discouraged Bar-Tal and convinced him thatIsraelis are little more than warmongering thugs, and "that this publicwould exchange the drums of war for the cooing of doves." This professor ofeducational psychology from Tel Aviv University goes on to say that theJewish memory contains "collective emotions such as fear, hatred and anger,turns into a psycho-social infrastructure of the kind experienced by nationsthat have been involved in a long-term violent conflict. This infrastructuregives rise to the culture of conflict in which we and the Palestinians aredeeply immersed, fanning the flames and preventing progress towardpeace."Bar-Tal claims that, in such a situation, it is hard even toimagine apossibility that the two nations will be capable of overcoming theirpsychological obstacles without outside help. Bar-Tal believes thatIsraeli-Jewish society is at fault and that it has a significant way to goin "changing its collective memory to become less biased and self serving."In his opinion many Israeli Jews still believe a Zionist narrative aboutmany issues in the history of the conflict – which he claims is a simplisticmemory of the conflict which portrays Israelis in a positive light and theArabs/Palestinians in a negative one. In other words, holding the Zionistnarrative is the source of the problem and if the Israeli citizens do notchange their DNA, the conflict will stay with us for ever. Never mind thatthe Zionist "narrative" is the truth and that the anti-Zionist "narrative"is a collection of lies and distortions.

Bar-Tal finds another link between 1948 and 2008: he thinks that the Israelipublic did not mature enough since the establishment of its state and so itis as easy to brainwash it about the Palestinian exodus as it as about therecent military operation in Gaza. In an article published in the virulentlyanti-Israel *Kibush* website he accuses his fellow Israelis of "blindpatriotism," holding a "desire for vengeance" and "self-righteousness."*7*

The Gaza military operation, he believed, was motivated by *"the wish toerase the feeling of failure in the Second Lebanese War during the summer of2006; they reflect a deep sense of collective victimhood because of thecontinuous firing of rockets on civilian settlements in the south by theHamas military organ*. *This sense of victimhood led to the urge to revengein order to punish for the harm done and prevent further firing. Inaddition, they are derived from the continuous dehumanization of the Hamasorganization. Finally, they are based on the conviction that Israel withdrewfrom the Gaza Strip in 2005, allowing Palestinians to live their lives andthey instead engage in terror."*

Bar-Tal argues that Middle East reality is much more complex than the"narrative perpetuated by the Israeli political and military establishments,which successfully constructed the beliefs of the Jewish public in Israel."In his opinion, most Israeli Jews do not know that originally Hamas wasfounded by the Israeli authorities (a completely false claim) to provide analternative to the national movement of PLO; or that Hamas is areligious-fundamental movement that also provides welfare, health andeducational services to civilians (so did the German Nazi Party); or thatHamas was elected democratically (with the insistence of USA) to lead thegovernment of the Palestinian authority because of Fatah corruption (Sowhat?).

In fact Bar-Tal's factual errors fail to dislodge his intense sense ofsuperiority to his ignorant fellow countrymen. Does the fact that Hamas alsotries to extend its control over Palestinians via civilian services somehowserve to legitimize it as something other than a genocidal terrorist group?Does the fact that Hamas supports the widows of suicide bombers or suppliesthe mosques with Koran books, makes it some sort of humanitarian NGO? Hamasmay have been "democratically" elected in elections with no freedom ofspeech nor of the press and overflowing with violence, but Bar-Tal fails tomention the fact that the international community refuses to recognize itbecause of its policy. That includes unwillingness to renounce violence,honor past agreements and recognize Israel.

While claiming that the unilateral disengagement from Gaza was done todelegitimize the Palestinian Authority, Bar-Tal goes on to adopt Palestinianpropaganda as is, by saying that "Gaza has been turned into one big prison"since the IDF controls its borders. Just how Israel, which removed not onlyits soldiers from Gaza but also its civilians, is "imprisoning" Gazans isunclear. What really upsets Bar-Tal is that Israel has the nerve to preventGazans from entering Israel and murdering Israelis. And while mentioning inpassing the Gazan rocket attacks against Israeli citizens, Bar-Tal assertsthat the smuggling tunnels into Gaza through which the weapons were broughtwere built *"mainly to smuggle civil goods that could not be brought to Gazaand not only weapons as the great majority believe." *And Pearl Harbor wasbombed because the Japanese desired American fast food.

Indeed one can only marvel at Bar-Tal's skills at producing disinformationwhen he says that *"few of the Israeli Jews recognize that Israel during twoyears had at least two alternative strategies to prevent further escalation;either to talk with Hamas which is possible and negotiate long-termcease-fire, or take decisive actions of peace..."* And if you raise aneyebrow, he will add that *"most of the Israeli Jews do not know that it waspossible to negotiate continuation of the cease fire with Hamas and do notremember that it was Israel who broke the ceasefire of November 4, 2008,killing 6 Palestinians."*

One wonders if the writer's tendency towards baseless fantasies derives fromhis wishful thinking. Back in reality, it was Hamas that has declared sooften that it would never negotiate with Israel, let alone recognize itsright to exist. It was Hamas that refused to prolong the ceasefireagreement, to the dismay of the Palestinian Authority and the fury of Egypt.

But Bar-Tal is adamant. Bar-Tal loves to use the phrase "extremists on bothsides,"*8* as if Jewish suicide bombers are roaming free on the Israeliside. While admitting that Hamas is not his cup of tea, "as it is afundamentalist religious organization that practices also terrorism," heinsists that it is not a homogenous movement. As such, *"it is possible tohear in it different voices including ones that support negotiation withIsrael and acceptance of the two state solution." *Sure, like in NaziGermany and Stalinist Russia.

Mysteriously and perhaps clinically, Bar-Tal hears voices that do not reachthe ears of others. He thinks that Israeli society is too embedded in theconflict to be exposed to voices of peace reaching out to it from Gaza,those same imaginary voices he hears. By the same token, he alleges, eventhe blame for the failure of the Camp David summit should be placed, fairlyand squarely, on the Jews' shoulders. And even if Arafat had his faults, itis Israel that supposedly is holding almost all the cards to resolve theconflict, since it *"occupies the land, holds Eastern Jerusalem, controlsthe life of the Palestinians, controls the resources of the West Bank,expands constantly the Jewish settlements on the West Bank, exercisespreventive and punishing violent acts according to its own will and hasalmost unconditional backing of* *the superpower."*

*Watch out! McCarthyism!*One might assume that, despite these views, it is still possible for honestpeople to conduct debate with "academics" like Bar-Tal. One would be wrong.What Bar-Tal wants is to monopolize the entire public arena of debate forpeople holding his own views. And he wants to achieve this by gaggingothers. He seeks to silence his opponents. He wants the exclusive right tosmear those with whom he disagrees, while denying people of other ideologiesthe freedom to express them. It so happened that after publishing his"interim report" about his "collective memory" survey, the good ProfessorDaniel Bar-Tal had the audacity to send a letter to his colleagues, in whichhe warned them of a witchunt against them. He was referring to "the growingmonitoring activities of NGOs that follow what they call "anti-Israeli"publications and other academic events by the Israelis." He also alertedthem to "the participation in our social sciences' network of individualswho use unaccepted language to delegitimize academia staff and activitiesthat they oppose politically." Finally, he demanded that universityofficials take disciplinary sanctions against faculty members who cooperatewith "monitoring groups" that expose political bias among Israeli academicradicals.

Bar-Tal demanded censorship, so "*that these two examples should not betolerated in our society as they signal McCarthyism and other ugly trendsthat should not appear in democratic societies."*

Bar-Tal has no interest in honest debate. He proposed the followingproposals for censorship and suppression of points of view with which hedisagrees:

I quote:

*1. The social science network should not publish messages that usederogative language with the purpose to delegitimize individuals and groupsthat act within the framework of the law and academic norms.*

*2. We should condemn the use of such language as well as monitoringactivities of the academia in Israel or elsewhere.*

*3. We should bring to light acts that aim at monitoring and limiting freeand opened academic activities in the Israeli and the international massmedia.*

*4. We should demand that formal academic bodies such as Senates of theUniversities, VERA (forum of university presidents) and the Academy ofScience condemn these types of activities.*

*If we will not act to stop these and other similar activities, but play therole of passive bystanders, they may hurt eventually each of us, destroy theIsraeli Academia, and hurt the society."** End of quote.*

So Daniel Bar-Tal demands freedom of expression for himself while demandingthat it be denied to others. He does not like his own biases andpseudo-research to be monitored or exposed or criticized. He thinks thatfreedom of speech should be limited to critics of Zionism and Israel, butnot allowed for critics of those critics.

In fact, he behaves exactly as a juvenile who fails to win some argument andthen insists that his opponent be punished. Otherwise, why does he seek theintervention of the academic institutions and call on them to disciplinecritics of critics? And what does he mean by stating that these NGO's"destroy Israeli academia?" Doesn't amateurish pseudo-research destroyIsraeli academia?

And who should be considered more guilty of trying to destroy Israeliacademia than those who call for an international academic boycott againstthe country's universities? But those are the sorts of measures that do nottrouble Professor Bar-Tal.

--------------------------------

*Footnotes*

1. That study is funded by a grant awarded by the IRPA (International PeaceResearch Association) Foundation to Nets-Zehngut, who came up with the ideato research this topic. It was conducted among a representative sample of500 Israeli Jews through Dialog, an Israeli center for public opinionresearch. The questions in the survey examined the collective memoryregarding 25 major issues associated with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict,ranging from the late 19th century to the beginning of the 21at centaury.Press Release issued by Teachers College in New York on 6 April 2009.2. For more information, visit the college's Web site at www.tc.columbia.edu.Learn3. The damaging report found its way into the digital dictionary Wikipediaunder "Israeli Textbook Controversy."4. Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. September 1999. Pages 19-20.5. Daniel Bar-Tal and Yona Teichman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,20056. (Ha'aretz, 1.1.2007)7. Kibush.co.il, (January 31, 2009).8. CounterPunch, 22 April, 2002.

Hebrew U's new Prez has his work cut out for him

To Left (double meaning) - the new look for Hebrew University leftism?

The Hebrew University just elected for itself a new president, Dr. Menachem Ben-Sasson, who used to be a Knesset backbencher from the Kadima Party.

His nomination comes not only in the midst of a financial crisis for the Hebrew University but also in the middle of a growing crisis of identity. The seriousness of that crisis was made evident yesterday when a group of leftist and Arab students on the campus, no doubt with the blessings of radical anti-Israel professors, gave Nazi salutes to pro-Israel students singing Hatikva and "Jerusalem of Gold." The story is reported in the Jerusalem Post today, here.

Like the other liberal arts secular universities in Israel (Tel Aviv University, Ben Gurion University, and my own University of Haifa), much of higher education in Israel has been converted by these institutions into leftist indoctrination and anti-Israel anti-Zionist "re-education." There are entire departments in which no non-leftist or Zionist may teach. Classrooms, especially in the social sciences, law, education, and humanities, are often turned into little camps for North-Korean-style extremist propagandizing. Incompetent pseudo-academics whose entire academic records consist of anti-Israel propagandizing get hired, tenured, and promoted, while dissident Zionist faculty sometimes have their careers sabotaged. Professors preach ideology in class instead of engaging in research and scholarship, and that ideology is invariably post-modernist anti-Israel Marxist radicalism. (The non-radicals seldom use their classrooms for political indoctrination. My own students do not have the foggiest idea of what my own political opinions are unless they google me on their own!)

The politicalization of the Israeli campus and the misbehavior of Hebrew University radical faculty are documented in detail at the web site of the Isracampus watchdog group here. Isracampus is a group initiative based in part on the legendary Campus Watch watchdog that operated in the United States, set up by the courageous Dr. Daniel Pipes.

Politicalization and radicalization of the faculty at the Hebrew University is about as bad as it is anywhere in Israel, and worse even than that on many American campuses. The whole collection of reports on Hebrew University extremism assembled by Isracampus appears here.

The Hebrew University record ranges from faculty members justifying anti-Israel terrorism, to other calling for an end to Israel's existence. It includes faculty members being arrested for engaging in illegal and violent behavior. It contains track records of numerous Hebrew University faculty members smearing Israel and Zionism, denouncing Israel as an apartheid peace-hating state, one that carries out horrific Nazi-like war crimes for the heck of it.

Anti-Israel students at the Hebrew university are probably much more rare than are anti-Israel faculty members, and there are probably less people in all of Eastern Europe who believe in socialism than there are on the faculty of the Hebrew University.

Nevertheless the growing anti-Israel faculty extremism there is having an impact, and the parading of leftist and Arab students on the Hebrew University's campus giving the Nazi salute in the middle of the meetings of the school's Board of Governors is disturbing evidence of this.